USA > Wisconsin > Milwaukee County > Milwaukee > Early Milwaukee : papers from the archives of the Old Settlers' Club of Milwaukee County > Part 9
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The creation and completion of this Rock River Valley rail- road cut off completely all the trade of the state from Milwaukee and gave it to Chicago, all the country north and west of the line
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and for certain distances east of it on account of certain inefficient country roads. The merchants and manufacturers now living will bear me out in this statement, and from this your city did not re- cover until after the late rebellion and the Chicago fire and by this time you had the greenback and legal tender period to help you.
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I wish I could erase from all records the failure of Milwaukee's business and financial men to respond to the efforts of Mr. Kilbourn and his associates to carry out the original plan of going to Dubuque and to have prevented, thereby, the designs of the Madison clique, but it cannot be done and Milwaukee must bear, forever, its lost opportunities. However, as the railroad build- ing in Wisconsin had become urgent, Mr. E. H. Goodrich of your city, was the originator of the idea of a road to Horicon, of which he can give you the history. And Judge Rose of Watertown started a line from Brookfield Junction to go through Watertown to the Mississippi river via Baraboo and got his road as far as Watertown when Mr. Alexander Mitchell came forward with a proposition to Judge Rose and his associates to the effect that four of his directors, myself included, should resign and allow himself and Russell Sage and two other New York gentlemen to supply our places, which was agreed to, and from this transaction grew the first consolidation of the Milwaukee roads under the title of the Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Company, and a distinguishing title it has become in all parts of our country. Its system is known, for short, as the Mil- waukee road. What effect in not responding to Mr. Kilbourn's demands at the time Mr. A. Hyatt Smith retired from the board of directors of your first road, owing to switching off at Milton, I leave you to judge. But I certainly think that Milwaukee owes something in memory of the grand efforts of Mr. Kilbourn in working and planning as he did, both with his money, influence and energies to build up a system of railroads which should inure- to the benefit of Milwaukee and to it only.
In reading the memoirs of Mr. Sivyer, Milwaukee's First White Child, many, yes, very many, of the names he enumerates come back to me and carry me back to the days long gone by and bring to my view many events which your association ought to have on record and preserved for future generations. Old land marks, old events, anecdotes of old citizens, some of which have been rich
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and quaint. To me, Milwaukee is almost sacred and I love it and the few remaining representatives of your association. Like the rise and fall of the Roman empire, I had my rise and fall in your city where I thought to end my days, but the fates have been against it ; yet I like to drop in and bring to my mind the early landmarks and note the changes which have come from the hands of man through the influences of time and the energies of Christian civili- zation. Amongst all the joys and sorrows which have come to me in my Milwaukee surroundings there is nothing that has so im- pressed me and remained a fixture so permanent upon my mind as the lost opportunity Milwaukee has experienced in not supporting and carrying out Mr. Kilbourn's ideas and efforts in his railroad plans. I can only say, I am sorry its effect and influence can never be regained and that Milwaukee has lost the proud eminence that many of its best and oldest citizens had in their fondest hopes an- ticipated, but now find them all gone.
I once heard an eminent Divine say that "History was but the errors of statesmen," and history proves also that extremes follow one another. And so we find it, because, no sooner had the gloom of disappointment fallen upon Milwaukee, owing to A. Hyatt Smith and his associates, than E. H. Goodrich, Samuel Brown and two other of your citizens organized an expedition of survey for a new railroad, and each subscribed $25.00, and this amount was paid over into the hands of Garrett Vliet to commence the survey of a new road, and when this was expended to make a draft for more and, if not honored, return. He did not return, but the result of this effort has given Milwaukee its La Crosse & Milwaukee rail- road, the history of which, with all its trials and difficulties, you will find in the book I have sent you and the substance of which many of you can probably bring back to your memory.
In justice, however, to Mr. A. Hyatt Smith, I may add that he and Mr. Corwith, a rich banker, of Galena, made the effort to extend your first railroad from Janesville to Galena, but it fell through, probably for the reason that your road, stopping at Janesville, would give Mr. Smith's town full control of the trade of the sur- rounding country better than to have the road extended.
I am in hopes that this feeble effort to bring back to your minds old days and old events may have the effect of recalling
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others from your organization and glean from them other scraps of early Milwaukee days and thus keep these events from being lost to your posterity. It seems to me that there is much truth in the old saying that "There is a divinity which shapes our ends, rough hew them as we will ;" because, notwithstanding all the efforts that were made in the foregoing as portrayed, it seems as though those efforts were met with obstacles, unforeseen and not to be overcome, and as a verification of this fact we have an example in the circumstance that the man who acted in the capacity of team- ster for Mr. Corwith and his party in looking over the line of your first railroad from Janesville to Galena was no less than our late President-U. S. Grant.
First Locomotive Built in Wisconsin
By George Richardson.
Much has been recently said and written in a local controversy as to the identity of that particular locomotive to which should attach the credit of being the first one built in the state of Wiscon- sin, and it is lamentable that a great part of that so said and writ- ten is far from the actual fact. If the question of priority of con- struction is worth talking about at all, it is worthy of being told as it really existed. The perversion of a fact in order to suit the pre- conceived notion of a narrator is not history, and does more to create a feeling of mistrust in the minds of those interested, than can be overcome by volumes of published truth. The statement that no question is ever settled unless settled right, applies with equal force to this locomotive question as it did to the vexed slavery question of half a century ago. The proof of the pudding is in the eating of it, and the actual truth of a controversy should be de- termined by the preponderance of substantiated data to sustain it.
My interest in this matter attaches not only from a motive of fact, but from a motive of personal pride, and the latter condition arises from the fact that I am-so far as I know-the only person now living who had anything to do with Milwaukee's first locomo- tive before it was put into active service. It is true that my con- neetion with Milwaukee's first locomotive was not over important, as I now consider it, but was such as to give me the right to claim connection with it, and to voueh for the absolute truth of all I may say relative thereto, from a personal standpoint.
During the years 1852, 1853, and 1854, I was employed by John Miller ("Long John" he was called by reason of his great size, six feet nine inches in height). Mr. Miller was at that time Milwau- kee's heavy moving contractor, and he it was who moved Milwau- kee's first locomotive from the shop where it was built and placed it on the tracks of what was then the Milwaukee and Mississippi rail- road, now the Milwaukee road.
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The locomotive was built at the works of W. B. Walton & Co., known as the Menominee foundry, and located at the southwest corner of Reed and South Water streets. The first locomotive dif- fered from all alleged drawings of it as recently published in some of the Milwaukee papers, and also from the alleged drawing of it in the possession of the Milwaukee Old Settlers' Club, inasmuch as it was what is known as "Inside connected," that is the machinery, cylinder, etc., was all underenath the boiler, except the parallel rods connecting the two pair of driving wheels. Recently published drawings claiming to represent the first engine show the cylinders and machinery as being located on the outside, as locomotives of today are built. This is a mistake. A most thorough inquiry and search has failed to discover a sketch or drawing of the first locomo- tive as it really was. If such, however, is in existence, this con- troversy may be the means of bringing it to light. I recollect this engine as plainly as though I had seen it but yesterday, and I re- member that on its dome or sandbox on top of the boiler was the following :
MENOMONEE LOCOMOTIVE WORKS.
No. 1. JAMES WATERS, Engineer. W. B. WALTON & CO., PROPRIETORS. On the side of the boiler was this word: "MENOMONEE. "
On Oct. 15, 1852, "Long John," with his crew of a dozen men and several yoke of oxen, began laying temporary tracks from a point at the foundry near which is now located the scales of See- both Brothers, and thence to Reed street, on Reed to the bridge over the Menomonee river-then a float bridge. No trouble was experienced until the bridge was reached. At that time Recd street was just about wide enough for ordinary wagons to meet and pass, and the locomotive and its tracks occupied the whole street. At the bridge all the power of men, block and tackle, as well as oxen, was needed to enable us to get the locomotive up the incline at the bridge. The engine's weight was about twenty-six tons, and under it the bridge barely escaped sinking, but it was safely landed on
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the north side of the river, and placed on the track, located about seventy-five feet away from the bridge, and here my connection with it ceased.
Now let us establish the identity of this engine, when it was built and who built it. In this controversy I have no desire to rob anybody of justly acquired credit, but with the lapse of time errors of identity and fact are so very apt to predominate and confuse.
In a recent Milwaukee newspaper article Charles G. Menzel, of Minneapolis, claims that his father, the late Gregor Menzel, built the first locomotive in Milwaukee, and that it was named White- water. To refute this claim of Mr. Menzel there appears in The Milwaukee Sentinel of October 14, 1852, the following:
"The Menomonee is the name of the splendid locomotive just built at the Menomonee foundry for the M. and M. R. R. company. The Menomonee leaves the foundry for the track today. It was designed and built under the superintendence of James Waters, to whose skill it bears ample testimony. The next engine, now nearing completion, is to be called Whitewater."
Again, the Sentinel of Oct. 16, 1852, says: "The new locomo- tive, the Menomonee, now fairly launched from the Walton & Co.'s foundry yesterday, commenced its march toward the railroad track."
This "march" of the Menomonee I have described above. Also, the following from the Sentinel of Oct. 25, 1852:
"The locomotive Menomonee, built by Walton & Co., at the Me- nomonee foundry, the first one manufactured there, was put in mo- tion on the track on Saturday (Oct. 23), and performed to the com- plete satisfaction of all concerned. We note the fact with no little pride that here in Milwaukee has been built the first locomotive west of Cleveland."
Then the following from the Free Democrat, Oct. 26, 1852: "The new locomotive, the Menomonee, was put on the track yester- day, and its speed pretty well tested running fourteen miles in twelve minutes."
I am fully aware that some there be who will smile broadly at the speed here given to my pet engine by the Free Democrat. Re-
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porters of those days were the forerunners of many to follow, and their imagination was just as vivid, as lurid, as romantic as is that of many of the reporters of today.
The facts here given, I believe, fully establish the identity of the first locomotive built in Milwaukee-establish the fact that it was called Menomonee; that it was designed by and built under the sole direction of James Waters, as engineer, and in no way does the name of Gregor Menzel appear in connection therewith, as claimed by his son.
In the Milwaukee directory of 1851 the name of Gregor Menzel (a most unusual and uncommon name) appears as "gunsmith, Lake, near Ferry." I knew Gregor Menzel personally and well. He was a most excellent mechanic, and well thought of by all who knew him, but at the time when he has been given credit for de- signing and building the first locomotive in Milwaukee he was em- ployed in the shop as a journeyman mechanic, as has been stated in the publie press by Zacharia Van Horn, a half-brother of Mr. Wal- ton, and an employe of the company at that time. It is also very improbable that Mr. Menzel had any connection with this locomo- tive in a supervisory capacity, for the very good and sufficient rea- son that Isaac Waters, a son of James Waters, was assistant fore- man in the shop at that time.
I have no desire to even attempt to rob Mr. Menzel of the credit of designing and building the second locomotive, a drawing of which was recently presented to the Old Settlers' Club, and which was called Whitewater, as shown by the following from the Free Democrat of Jan. 12, 1853:
"The Menomonce foundry has just turned out another locomo- tive for the M. and M. R. R. company, called Whitewater. It is the same size as the first, but with outside connections."
The above conclusively clinches both sides of this long mooted question. The Menomonee was the first, with inside connections. The Whitewater was the second, with outside connections.
James Waters designed and built the first, and Gregor Menzel may have designed and built the second.
An Up-River Mystery
Read by Jeremiah Quin, Oct. 2, 1899.
In the autumn of 1858 an occurrence just above the dam caused much annoyance to the squatter settlers of that region. The La Crosse shops were running in full blast. The long brick blacksmith shop on the crest of the river bank was full of vigorous, brawny men, many of whom built small houses, known as shanties, along the river banks. A custom, or rather a fashion, prevailed among these knights of the ringing anvil, of wearing red flannel shirts at work; and proudly as ever marched "red branch knight" of old, we strutted in these colors to and from the smoky shop.
The women along the river banks seemed to catch inspiration from our colors, and the blacksmith's wife could be easily distin- guished, as with high head and proud bearing, on each wash day, with well-rounded bare arms, and ample corsetless bust, she laid the masculine emblem on the green sunny sward to dry; for in those days, clotheslines and clothes horses were unknown, or deemed effeminate luxury.
All at once a dark cloud came over the sylvan spot. A red shirt began to disappear here and there from the variegated lawn, and no one could discover how. At first it was thought a neighbor might have gathered one in by mistake, and sometimes a humorous scene would occur between the matrons of the settlement, thus: "Mrs. Dressen, when you thought that you took in Hans' red shirt last night, was it not my Mike's you had taken by mistake?"
"Ach, mine Gott, Mrs. Murphy, mine, mine; I never could make such mistick in Hans' shirt," would be the good-natured reply. These little things, however, never caused the slightest ill feeling among the women of the settlement.
Day by day the crop of red shirts grew less and less, and what deepened the mystery, was, that while there were garments of vari- ous hues, and shapes, of gauzy textures, and costlier finish, lying on the daisy-covered sward, still, only the red flannel shirt was ever taken.
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Many were the theories which were advanced in regard to the matter, but still there was no clue discovered. Self-constituted vig- ilance committees kept sharp watch, but still the red shirts disap- peared, and the mystery only deepened. An unfortunate rag picker sauntered one day through the settlement, and was instantly sur- rounded by the active vigilance committee. His huge bag was turned inside out, and its contents scattered about, but no red shirt was among them. The terror-stricken merchant, gathering up his goods once more, quickly departed, wondering whether he had struck one of Gulliver's savage islands.
Red was eschewed altogether. Blue flannel was made the smith- shop uniform, and peace and happiness reigned on the river's sylvan banks once more.
The long winter passed, and when the warm sun of Spring melted the crested snows of the stream, the mystery was solved. Well up towards Humboldt a colony of muskrats made settlement that Winter. Their vast network of nests looked as usual, until the warm Spring rays all at once metamorphosed the scene, and strange to relate, in a single day the colony assumed the appear- ance of a miniature English military camp, and a most picturesque sight it was, too; every nest was crowned-capped with a red flannel shirt.
The selection by the colony of red flannel for their building pur- poses is perhaps the most interesting part of my story, and as it came under my personal observation, I will relate it.
Sauntering one day along the river bank, shot gun in hand, in quest of jacksnipes, I saw a large muskrat sitting upon one of a dozen or so stones, at the entrance of the old ravine, a little above where the woolen mill now stands. My first impulse was of course to get that musk's hide, and I crawled noiselessly along so as to get within sure distance. I came out of the brush a little, so as to take sure aim, when I noticed that he was eying me very intently, with- out apparently any fear. There was something in his looks which seemed to appeal to my feelings, and Poor Burns' famous lines to the mouse came into my mind instantly :
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"I'm truly sorry man's dominion Has broken nature's social union, And justifies the ill opinion That makes thee startle, At me, thy poor earthborn companion And fellow mortal."
And I was much pleased that, unlike Burns' scared little mouse, my muskrat never stirred, but gave me candid glances of . confidence. I became at once much interested in him, and al- though I would not kill him for the world now, I feared that some less humane hunter might come along and shoot him on sight. Deeming it my duty under the circumstances to give himn a lasting fright, I fired both barrels of my old shotgun against a rock near him. He looked at me for a moment, and jumping up on that very rock, began to gambol around on it. Determined if possible to strike terror into him, I reloaded and fired once more, this time into the water, which splashed upon him and over the rocks around him, but with no effect. He swam around, and frisked from rock to rock, and then looked at me in a funny sort of way, much as to say : "Fire another. I like it."
I now began to feel great interest in him, and pity for him, especially as I felt the responsibility of giving him so much confi- dence in a hunter. I was down to my last charge of shot, and I at once resolved to make that tell, even at the risk of wounding him. I loaded in the charge of powder and rammed it down with my last wad of paper-we had no cartridges in those days-I put in my last charge of shot, but had nothing left for a wad. Necessity is the mother of invention, it is said, and so it proved in my case. Being a blacksmith I of course wore the regulation red shirt, and taking my knife from my pocket, I cut a piece from it, and rammed down there with the charge. Approaching to within, well probably eight feet of the rock from which that rat sat smiling at me, I put the full charge of shot against the rock, very close to him, so as to shock him, but instead of diving terror-stricken into the river that rat actually curled up his tail, and jumped around in evident merri- ment. The red wadding did not burn but fell on the rock. He picked it up in his mouth, and shook it at me several times. I then
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grew angry and ran for a stone. He must have seen my change of countenance, for he swam away hurriedly with the piece in his mouth, with which he undoubtedly embellished his nest; evidently the whole colony finding red flannel well suited to building, had raided the banks on both sides. Nothing was easier than their mode of operation. They would sneak the garment off the bank into the river, and then carry it under the water, so that the people watching for a man thief, could not account for the manner of the disappearance. One watcher offered to make affidavit that the shirt was lying on the grass, when she looked around for a moment, and on turning again, found the garment gone, but her story was dis- credited and she was charged with sleeping on her watch.
This little incident was recalled to my mind by the interesting story related at the Old Settlers' picnic by your late treasurer, Brother Lee. The story so graphically and truthfully told by Mr. Lee made a deep impression on my mind, as it presents to the nat- uralist, the reptile in an entirely new and wonderful light, giving us a picture of gratitude and affection almost human.
Some might say that the incident which came under my own observation shows the muskrat up as a more cunning character, and that being higher in the scale of creation than Brother Lee's rep- tile, he had partaken more of modern civilization, by smiling in my face now, and in the next moment conspiring to rob me of even my only shirt. However all this might be, the incident itself does not approach the picture given us by Brother Lee, either in intensity of human affection, or in depth of human pathos.
The Rhodean sculptors of old have left the world an immortal group called the Laocoon, in which is depicted the severe decree of the gods against Troy, the strangling of the sons of Priam by huge serpents. If ever an American sculptor arises equal to the great task of depicting Brother Lee's experience with his serpents, the American story must far surpass the classic and famous Laocoon. Look at the group! There stands the manly form of our late treas- urer, proudly encoiled within the scaly circles of a huge reptile, who is in the attitude of impressing a loving kiss upon his cheek, whilst as a bas-relief, the crouching, cowardly chicken thief is firmly bound in the coils of younger serpents.
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Let us hope that some day this group will stand in the Seventh Ward park, inviting to Michigan's wondrous shore, travelers from every land, even as now flock around the gallery of the Laocoon, enduring through all time as the last and greatest climax of Ameri- can art and of American story.
Pioneer Physicians and Druggists
By John A. Dadd.
In the year 1850 there stood on the southeast corner of Wiscon- sin and East Water streets a cluster of frame buildings owned by Elisha Eldred, the corner occupied by Hatch & Patterson as a drug store, while overhead Mr. Eldred had his office. Mr. Hatch being one of the earliest settlers of the city, a member, and I believe, one of the organizers of St. Paul's Episcopal church, his store was the resort of many of the most prominent and well-known citizens. There you would meet Judge A. G. Miller of the United States Court ; the Rev. Akerly, rector of St. Paul's church ; Cyrus Hawley, one of its wardens ; James B. Martin, also a warden or vestryman of the same. Our late esteemed member, Horace Chase, was a fre- quent caller, coming seated behind a fine specimen of the Morgan horse, of which breed he seemed peculiarly fond.
Physicians came necessarily to procure medicaments requisite in their practice. Foremost among them were A. W. Blanchard and J. B. Dousman. Dr. Blanchard I was first intimately acquaint- ed with, although having previously been under the care of Dr. Whitney for about ten weeks, being taken soon after coming to the city with typhoid fever, and attended by him at the hospital of the Sisters of Charity, then situated at the southwest corner of Oneida and Jackson streets, the site now occupied by the residence of Dr. W. Fox. Dr. Whitney was a very able physician, who afterwards went to California. Previous to going he associated with him Dr. Lewis McKnight, now chief examining physician to the Northwest- ern Mutual Life Insurance company.
Dr. Blanchard was a man of marked traits of character, whom to know was to respect; his convictions were strong, but guided by high conscientiousness, he seldom erred. He had a large family, principally daughters, among them Mrs. W. P. Lynde and Mrs. John Nazro. All displayed more or less the strong mental char- acteristics of their father. He lived to an advanced age and died much regretted and highly respected.
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